Kathmandu Post

Editorial»

Pure unions

FEB 16 -
In 2010, the government had announced a new, improved, and rather controversial scheme whereby, in an attempt to remove inter-caste marriage stigmas, various targets were created and incentives were offered. The idea was to meet a baseline target of 200 marriages between Dalits and non-Dalits though a bonus scheme. Married couples would be given a cash “prize” of Rs 100,000. Obviously, meeting this target was going to require more than that. The government might have been better off trying to provide such couples and their families’ security—violence against Dalits by non-Dalits is still a major problem and it is only amplified in cases of inter-caste marriage. Acceptance is growing, but at far too slow a pace. In urban centres it’s easy to forget how important the notions of purity still are in many parts of the country, but the discrimination and violence against Dalits and those in their association, cannot be undermined.

Take the most recent example of violence against a Dalit family whose son dared marry a high caste woman: Santa Bahadur Damai of Dailekh district fell in love with and married Rajkumari Shahi of the same village. When the girl’s family found out, five family members went to Damai’s home, beat his father to death, and slashed his brother Nara Bahadur Damai with a Khukuri. If that wasn’t enough, a couple of days ago, they cornered Nara Bahadur and beat him up, threatening to take his life too. This incident is not isolated and only one of many others of a similar nature. Family members of Dalits who marry non-Dalits are often attacked. Likewise, abduction by family members of the non-Dalit spouse is also a common phenomenon.

While government policy to de-stigmatise such marriages may exist, these cases imply they are not working. When a Dalit marries a non-Dalit, not only are the couples socially

ostracised, but the Dalit family often bears the brunt of the inter-caste union. It is not uncommon for upper-caste family members to resort to extreme measures either, like mothers committing suicide, due to the shame of their child marrying a Dalit. Giving people money to marry into groups that have been socially and politically ostracised for hundreds of years is not a solution. It may work as a small part of a more comprehensive approach, but to hope to remove deeply-entrenched social stigmas through cash incentives is naive, and somewhat patronising towards the Dalit community. The message shouldn’t be focused on meeting targets and encouraging Dalits and non-Dalits to marry as much as it should be focused on removing the utter disgrace felt by families whose children and siblings choose to marry a Dalit man or woman, often causing them to resort to violent measures. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable, and predominantly still rooted in the stigma of impurity that surrounds the Dalit identity. A better incentive than cash, for many of the couples where one partner is a Dalit, would be that of security and acceptance. And it is towards that end, that all government policies should be focused.

Posted on: 2012-02-17 06:24

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